TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Horizon News, part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-owned Beijing News, accidentally leaked its internal directives for reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a Weibo post on Tuesday (Feb. 22), revealing it would only publish pro-Kremlin content.
The post wrote that any content that is unfavorable to Russia or pro-Western must be censored, per Business Insider. The directive also gave instructions on narrowing the scope of debate on the website — all user comments are to be carefully screened and posted gradually.
An editor at Xinhua News Agency later posted on Weibo that China needs to emotionally and morally support Russia now since “China will also need Russia's understanding and support when wrestling with America to “solve the Taiwan issue once and for all.”
Horizon News Weibo post (Twitter, Ling Li screenshot)
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) claimed their countries shared a supposed “limitless partnership” with "no forbidden areas of cooperation.” In the same joint statement, Putin affirmed Russia’s opposition to the concept of political independence for Taiwan.